Friday, July 26, 2013

Well, I don't know about you but this last week has been quite eventful for me.

My Daughter Zoe is going through a rather rough time & it has been a week of trial & error in regards to the parenting side of things. Being a single Mum takes it out of me sometimes but I guess we all have to do our best & just be there for our children. However, I am extremely happy & thankful that my older children have come together & helped out where they can :)

On a brighter note....guess what I bought myself the other day? :)

Let me show you....

I got a new camera :) Woo hoo lol

It's the Canon SX500 IS.

It is a compact, lightweight camera with 30x optical zoom lens. It has a 16-megapixel CCD senor & fantastic image stabilisation. Brilliant for when I have the shaky hands lol.

It has a 3 inch LCD display screen.

The flash can be adjusted - have less or more flash. Not that I use that much with my designs but will come in handy when taking photo's in general.

It's a pretty cool camera but of course, I have to spend a little more time with it to get to know it well & to figure out the settings that work well for me & my environment when taking photo's of my designs. I have only played with it once so far (things have been too hectic round here lol) but so far I love what it does :)

Also, before I go, just letting you know that I have added an album on my Dreamtime Facebook account where I have been adding my Designer Papers. I thought it may be easier for you if you wish to have a custom design created as you will be able to see which DP's are available & to choose from. Of course, I have HEAPS of DP's so it it going to be some time before they are all up there lol. It will be an ongoing process of adding them for a while :) However, I intend on getting them all in the album sooner rather than later lol. If you would like to check them out, click here.

Well, I had better go.

Before I do though, I just wanted to say thank you to all of you that offered some great advice in regards to Zoe when her friend was diagnosed with Diabetes only a few weeks ago. You have been very helpful & I appreciate it heaps :)

Sunday, July 14, 2013

I want to give a nice warm welcome to all my new followers & also to all of you that come back & see me all the time :)

A little inside info for you :) My Daughter Zoe's friend was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes the other day. She is the same age (13) as Zoe & they have been friends for a while now. Poor Lilla. Apparently she is coping very well & adapting nicely, however I'm wondering about my little Zo.

Zoe has had the disease since she was just 3 yrs old, has been on two diabetes group camps & I have always been proud to see her treat the diabetes as a 'friend' rather than an 'enemy' all these years. However, since Zoe got the call from Lilla to tell her the news, she has been literally all over the place where her emotions are concerned. One minute she is sad, maybe even angry that Lilla has Diabetes, but the next minute she is overflowing with excitement.

As I have explained to Zo (due to her having been confused with her emotions) that she of all people knows that having Diabetes isn't good & it's only natural for her heart to go out to Lilla, but on the other hand she now has someone that she is very close to that has the same disease as herself.

I personally think that Zoe is relieved that she now feels more 'normal' & can finally bond in a way with Lilla that she hasn't been able to with anyone else. Myself included. Surely it must be a very overwhelming feeling of not 'being alone & the only one'? Have you had this sort of feeling? Is there anything else I can say to her that will help her feel more relaxed with her feelings, thoughts & emotions? I'm sure it will all settle down soon :)

Well, on to something more creative :) lol

I have only just a few days ago found the gorgeous girly digis called 'Big Eyed Besties' by Sherri Baldy. I personally think they have a lot of character & you will definately be seeing me designing with these cuties again :)

The digi sentiment is called Autumn Tickets from Paper Cupcakes which I won in a challenge quite a while ago :) It was good to finally use the clock charm which I have had for some time now too.

I mounted the design onto an 8 x 8 inch canvas which I also distressed. The pin is made from my bead stash which too has been sitting there waiting to be used :) I used the black lace then adhered two different ribbons on top. The brads are pretty much the same colour as her dress which worked out well :)

What do you think of my new easel stand?

A friend of mine made it for me after I bought all the supplies for it. I am hoping he can show me during the week how to make them as I would like to add them to my Etsy shop for purchase.

I am thinking of painting them white & keeping some of them with their natural look. What do you think?

I totally enjoyed creating this design. It all seemed to come together very nicely without any hiccups or bumps along the way :)

Monday, July 8, 2013

I hope you are all well. Thank you for popping in to see me & welcome to all my new followers. It is so wonderful to know that you like coming here :) It really gives me that nice warm fuzzy feeling :) Thank you.

I haven't been here much this week as it is school holidays here at the moment so my Daughter has been busy with having all her friends over. As you can imagine, it's been quite hectic lol. However, I have been able to get one design done :) I hope you like it.

I have tried my hand at a few techniques this week that I have never tried before. The first one being masking the images. It took me quite a few attempts to get the actual stamps positioned right but I managed to get there in the end.

The other technique was the dots in the background. I'm not too sure what the proper term is ...do you? However, I will just call it my dotting technique for now lol. The image was looking a bit bland even after colouring it in but now after adding the dots it looks more 'alive' lol.

I had a few problems in deciding what colours Edwin should be wearing lol. I didn't want him being dressed in pink lol. White would have made him blend into the heart too much & I would have lost him. So green & white was the decision :)

Talking of hearts. These are my new dies that finally arrived at my front door the other day. Oooh I was so excited that I couldn't wait to get it all happening. I also used an old heart template that I have had since I first started scrapbooking (back in 2000). To my suprise & relief it was just big enough to match the diecut :) I cut all the white hearts out by hand....something I haven't done in a while but it all worked well together.

I picked up some crochet thread the other day & used it to make the bows on the little hearts. I like it better than using bakers twine as it doesn't 'fray', meaning the strands don't split apart so much.

I also used my new Ice White Pearl Pen (very easy to use), inked the big hearts with my Kaisercraft Script stamp & Victorian Velvet distress ink. All of the edges have been distressed with Aged Mahogany ink & I also have hand sewn the design. I can sew them better by hand than on my sewing machine lol. Oh I had so much fun with this one :) Lot's of new techniques.

I got my Magnolia Doohickey Vintage Tag out to play, stamped it like the hearts, added some gingham ribbon from my stash & a cute little heart charm (I have sooo many of these lol). The lace is also from my stash & happy to say that it is finally all gone :) The cute little MS Monarch Butterflies have been given a little bit of sparkle with Stickles & I added a few beads too.

I must admit I had the best time & a lot of fun putting this design together. I didn't have one hold up which is not the norm for me lol. As some of you will know, I normally get stuck half way through. Well, I am extremely happy with this design & as usual the photo's does not do it much justice. Ohhh I so can't wait to get a new camera.

Well that is it for me tonight. It's getting really late so I had better go & link up these challenges :)

Thank you so much for coming by. I am looking forward to paying you a visit too. I have been receiving many lovely comments & I want you to know that it is greatly appreciated with you taking the time to do that. It warms my heart greatly, so thank you very much :)

Also just a reminder that if you haven't yet entered my giveaway on my Facebook page then feel free to click here.

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Unless otherwise stated all content is by Lisa. Please do not copy my work for submission for publication or contests. However, please feel free to copy/lift my card toppers or layouts for your own personal use. Thank you so much.